Katie J.M. Baker

People all over India have been protesting for days, asking for direct action from the government after a 23-year-old was gang-raped and beaten for hours on a bus while it drove around New Delhi, passing through several police checkpoints. The attack was extreme, but it was hardly rare, and during the subsequent protests, at least two more teenage girls were gang raped as well.

It should not take an hours-long violent gang rape to convince India's government to take…
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Today, Indian officials said they were launching a wide-reaching campaign to protect women, which will include both preventative measures and laws that make it easier for survivors to come forward and have cases dealt with as fast as possible. They also might make some sexual assault punishable by death sentence.

More from the AP:

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Bus drivers in New Delhi will be required to display their identification prominently in the vehicles, buses are now required to remove tinting from their windows and plainclothes police are being placed on buses to protect female passengers, he said. In addition, chartered buses such as the one where the attack occurred will be impounded if they illegally ply for fares on the streets, he said.

Authorities will also pay more attention to drunk driving and "loitering gangs of drunken youths," and a special legislative committee is meeting next week specifically to discuss how to protect the country's women.